Weekly Overview

A hot air balloon drifted past the house this evening. I would absolutely LOVE to go in one of those things. It just seems so decadent somehow, floating over people's houses, waving (though they probably can't see you) at children in the gardens, gazing out over the hills and fields, chatting to the birds as they fly past. Like a little dream world. Yep, would love to go ballooning.

I have been going a little crazy. Please don't judge me, but as long-time readers will know, I collect badges for my camp blanket...(s). Anytime I go on holiday or to a city or to an attraction, I always frantically search for fabric badges that can be stitched onto my blanket...and when that doesn't work...I go on eBay. It's very bad. A lot of these badges were mad, late night purchases when I was feeling a little sorry for myself. I even have saved sellers who often change their badge designs- it's a definite addiction. These are the ones that I have collected since the Herefordshire holiday in August last year (that I haven't stitched on already). In this photo there are 51 badges (not including the five little flames to go around the campfire. Plus I found two more badges after I took these photos!!

My Minions are a new addition to the collection!! They are so cheeky. (Bottom, tee hee.)

The garden is still booming with colour. These Marigolds are especially eye popping at the moment, especially when partnered with that electric blue Lobelia!!

My little tomato plants are getting quite big tomatoes on them now. There hasn't been enough sunshine lately though to turn them that glossy red colour, but I hope they start change colour soon!

 (By Janet)

In the post this week I have had the eight instalment of the 12 Days of Christmas ATC swap. This month it is all about 'Maid's A Milking' and the above is Janet's very colourful interpretation of the theme. I wonder how many people have gone for the 'bucket' look?
Mine are slightly late this month (tut tut) and were finished last night ready for posting tomorrow morning. I have also chosen to represent the theme with pails of milk and the yoke that was used to carry the buckets over the shoulders of sturdy Milk Maids. I also found these really cute little milk bottle buttons in my stash that were just perfect!!

Evening BBQ

To finish up our social engagements of yesterday, we had a BBQ at the house of my Godfather and his family. We don't see them very often and it was a real treat (especially as they are brilliant cooks!).

He is another garden person who has a fascinating array of plants, and a huge beautiful pond full of very pretty fish with wafty silky looking tails.

They also have two gorgous cats, Bubbles and Poppy. Bubbles is pictured above and has a proper little barrel tummy- she's a bit of a greedy pig.

There's a lovely little water feature that runs down to the pond, that my godfather made himself. It is simply a little mosaic channel which has a constant stream of running water pumped up from the pond that trickles downwards and makes the prettiest waterfall noise.

The rest of his garden is just as pretty, as you can see from the photos!! I don't know the names of most of the flowers but they are all beautiful, and these are just a selection!!

You can see how the channel water feature works a little better in this photo- it makes for a very peaceful area of the garden.

Poppy adopted my brother's bag as a bathing area. She didn't like to be disturbed much, that tail obviously needs lots of dedicated cleaning!
I didn't get a chance to photograph the food at the BBQ- but there was lots of it, pork, chicken, sausages, burgers.... It was a lovely way to round off the day.

Colouring In

Phew! Today has been a busy day of social engagements, visiting family and friends alike. We started the day at my Grandmother's house for an early lunch, being the model family and displaying the fun that could be had in the garden whilst prospective buyers wandered around. (Eating lunch on the patio in the sunshine- brilliant advertising.)

She hasn't been doing much to the garden lately as I mentioned in my last post about her garden, but still the years of planting are paying off as the plants return year after year without much prompting.

Such gorgeous, vibrant colours everywhere you look.
Her fruit trees and bushes have all been very successful this year too and I wandered around picking some for her tea (one for me, one for the pot)- loganberries, raspberrys, blackcurrants, redcurrants....

Lots of vivid pinks, and so many textures!! Fluffy pointy flowers, smooth Busy Lizzies...

Eventually, once stuffed full of berries with red stained fingertips, we departed onto our next social call of an elderly family friend. She has one of those houses that looks pretty normal from the outside, but stepping inside is like stepping through a doorway into another era. Nothing has changed much in there for years and the house has the rooms still as originally built (a rarity nowadays with the penchant for knocking through and expanding room sizes), poky and dark. She is a bit of a hoarder as well and the amount of stuff she has squeezed into one small room is absolutely astonishing!!

Home once more I decided to set up camp in the garden. I bought two bunches of flowers this morning to make this beautiful bouquet; white Gypsophilla and greeny/yellow Alstroemerias- they go so nicely in my vase.

For my birthday I was given a colouring book and a lovely packet of colour pens. Have you joined in this new craze of 'adult colouring books'? I have to admit I am thoroughly enjoying myself. I started this octopus on Monday and it is taking me ages!! It is a brilliant de-stresser at the end of a long day, with nothing to think about other than the next colour and where one tentacle ends and another begins.

The perfect way to relax at the weekend.